Its easy to test

Listening and Reading

Multiple Choice
True / False
Fill in the blanks
Matching

But what about

Speaking

Do you know how to evaluate

speaking?
I assess my students speaking skills by..
________________________________.
The criteria I used to assess students
communication skills are _____________.
The problems and challenges I have with
evaluating my students skills are _______.

Traditional speaking
assessments
Not

done at all due to limited time

constraints and knowledge of testing.
Artificial with limited feedback.
The criteria to assess students
communication skills are vague and
subjective, leading to inconsistencies.
No uniform assessments done between
levels in language programs.
Limited teacher collaboration.

Ficus on Language Structures

1. Linguistic Competence: Uses grammar
accurately with variety? Adequate vocabulary?
Clear pronunciation?
2. Functional Competence: Answers the
question
completely and logically?
3. Strategic Competence: Can use repair
strategies when conversation breaks down?
4. Sociolinguistic/Cultural Competence: Uses
language appropriate to the situation?

in order to communicate
effectively and be understood
speakers.

Individual sounds consonants, vowels,

diphthongs such as in day and triphthongs
such as in here.
The stressed and weak sounds in words; for
example, the second syllable of 'banana' is
stressed and the first and third are weak.
The stressed and weak words in speech; for
example, in the order "Go to bed!" 'Go' and
'bed' are stressed and 'to' is not.

The intonation patterns in speech, falling,

rising, flat, etcetera
The features of connected speech, i.e. things
that happen when we connect sounds
together.
For example doesnt, linking sounds such as
the /j/ in 'I am', lost sounds such as the /t/ in 'I
dont know', and changed sounds such as the
/t/ in 'white bag' changing to a /p/.

Following the rules of

language
Ability to understand and follow the rules of language
at a word, sentence and text level:

Choosing the right vocabulary. Speakers need to

think about the meaning of a word, its connotations,
the level of formality, the type of register and genre,
and the words it normally goes with (collocations).
Using grammar structures to put clauses and
sentences together.
Using features of discourse to give long and short
turns cohesion and coherence. For example,
speakers need to use referencing "This is the
problem" and connectors "so...".

Communicative functions

Speakers need to be able to recognize,

understand and use the communicative
functions of speech.
This includes:
Understanding the communicative functions of
vocabulary and grammar.
why this is a normal exchange?:

A: "Did you walk the dog today?"

B: "Ive been in bed all day with a cold.

Or what a speaker means when he says: "Do you

know who I am?"

Understanding the functions of intonation and

moving stress.
For example, intonation and stress can show
attitude: "Oh, really?
Emphasis: "I said three bananas", and structure,
e.g. a falling intonation at the end of a list of items.
Recognising features such as repetitions, rephrasing, pauses, and noises and understanding
their function.
Recognising non-linguistic features such as
changes in volume and tone.

Social meaning of speech

This includes thinking about:
When to use formal and informal language.
What connotation language might have, for
example the difference between thin, slender and
skinny.
How direct they can be, for example when to
say; "Help me with this." and when to say; "Would
you mind helping me, please?
What social factors are important, e.g. social
status, age, gender.

The rules to start, maintain, manage, and close

conversations.

Common Speaking Tasks in

Language Classrooms

Classroom participation
Pronunciation
Vocabulary
Weekly digital voice journals with
Audio/video prompts
Class presentations/debates
Questionnaires/ fieldwork
Group oral testing and
peer evaluations

How to evaluate
Pronunciation
How can I assess a students pronunciation
concisely without giving a made up
grade?
Narrow the focus area or items to
make it meaningful and measurable.

How can I measure a

students ability to use word
stress correctly?
Written: Write how many
syllables
are in this word and indicate
word stress: peninsula 4 | 2
Speaking: Look at this
picture/map and describe
five
geographic features of this
area.

Using language cards to

measure speaking skills
Focus on the use of
grammar and
vocabulary in short
sentences.

Worried
(present possibility)
The man _______ . . .
The woman ____ . . .

The man might be worried

because his
girlfriend found his cellphone
unlocked.
The man might have something
compromising in it.
His girlfriend might be jealous.

Assessment Criteria:
Grammar Accuracy (modal of present possibility)
3 -2- 1- 0
Grammar Variety (modal of present possibility)
3- 2- 1- 0
Task (complete three ideas)
- 3 -2- 1- 0
Word Choice
- 3- 2- 1- 0
Pronunciation (Word Stress/Adjectives)
10

How to develop a grading

scale
1. Determine what skills need to be
evaluated.
2. Develop clear criteria for judging students'
work.
3. Collaborate with others to build
consistency throughout your program.
4. Expect to learn by trial and error.

What is a Rubric
It is set of scoring guidelines that evaluate
students' work and provide a clear teaching
directive.
Rubrics are a powerful, authentic tool used to
assess students' work. This scoring tool lists
specific criteria for a project or piece of work.
The criterion helps students to have a concrete
understanding and visualization of "what
counts".

Formats of a rubric may include analytical

and holistic..
Analytical Rubrics
Break down the various objectives of the
final product into specified components
Evaluate individual components
independently
Possess extra details that allow multiple
grades to emphasize the same criteria

Holistic Rubrics

Assess students' work globally "as a whole

Often use anchor points that assign value to
specific descriptions or performances which
contribute to the whole
Have fewer details to analyze, and are easier
to integrate into the schema of younger
students
Do not provide detailed information about
students' performance in specified areas
within the assignment

Weighted Rubrics

Typically are a form of an analytical rubric.

Judge certain concepts more heavily than others

For example, if a teacher stresses the plot of a
story, he or she might consider weighing the plot
segment of the rubric more heavily than the
setting, character, or mechanics.

Focus attention on specific aspects of an

assignment

Why Use Rubrics?

They make assessing the students' work efficient,
consistent, objective, and quick.
Rubrics provide students with a clear
understanding of what is expected of them.
Students have concrete directions about what
makes a good project, a good speech,roleplay
etc..

Rubrics provide students with valuable

information about the degree of which a specific
learning outcome has been achieved. They
provide students with concrete feedback that
displays areas of strength and areas in need of
improvement.

Important Characteristics of Rubrics

A well-done rubric is both an instructional tool and an assessment
mechanism. Here is a list of characteristics to strive for to create a
purposeful rubric.
Criteria
An effective rubric must possess a specific list of criteria, so students know
exactly what the teacher is expecting.
Gradations
There should be gradations of quality based on the degree to which a
standard has been met (basically a scale). The gradations should include
specific descriptions of what constitutes "excellent", "good", "fair", and
"needs improvement". Each gradation should provide descriptors for the
performance level. Typically there are 4-6 gradation levels on a rubric.

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php
http://www.schrockguide.net/assessment-and-rubrics.html
http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/

Practice 1
Listen to the following
presentations and evaluate the
students without using a grading
rubric.
Step 1. Listen and take notes
Step 2. Grade students performance
Step 3. Provide feedback

Practice 1
Now use a rubric and
compare

Conclusion
Evaluating speaking may be troublesome at
some point, for this its necessary to stablish what
you want to evaluate; at the same time ask
students to participate in the elaboration of the
testing rubric in order for them to set their own
goals and set standards for themselves.
By doing this you will avoid arbitrary and biased
oral evaluations.

THANK YOU!